BY: Terry Allen
Lucille “Big Mama” Allen always said children are like garments of a worker—if your clothes are worn, stained, or torn from a long day’s labor, the marks tell the story of the effort. In her words, “Children are God’s workclothes; whatever you did not fix in yourself will show in your children.” She didn’t pull that from scripture, but you better believe she was drawing from deep spiritual truth and psychological wisdom. Kids mirror what we carry—our unresolved trauma, unhealed wounds, and uncorrected weaknesses.
Generational patterns run deep. Unresolved trauma and dysfunction can be passed down through generations. A parent’s own childhood wounds—like a deep fear of rejection—can lead them to parent in ways that keep the cycle of insecurity alive in their children. In other words, what we fail to heal, our children inherit and magnify.
The same is true in our economic lives. Between 2011 and February 2020, the Black unemployment rate dropped from 16% to 5.8%, the lowest in decades. But today, we’re seeing a painful reversal. Black unemployment stands at 7.5%, nearly twice the overall U.S. rate. Our youth are especially vulnerable, often the first to be cut and the last to be rehired. These numbers aren’t just stats—they’re the reflection of what we failed to fix in ourselves: job security, ownership, and long-term economic strategy.
I was reminded of this recently at the African American Leadership Institute’s gathering, at Paul Quinn College themed “The People’s Power – A Collective Action for Change.” There was passion in the room—public service, community action, and civic engagement were all discussed. But not one workshop focused on private-sector engagement, brick-and-mortar business owners, or corporate accountability. That absence left me thinking: right now, we’re treating every idea like a wheel, when in truth it’s just a spoke—and until we connect the spokes into one accountable ecosystem, our community can’t roll forward.
Think of a wheel: the rim is our community, the hub is accountability, and the spokes are our sectors—politics, business, faith, education, housing, health, and culture. Right now, too many of our ideas are just loose spokes. But a spoke alone doesn’t roll. Only when every spoke connects to the hub and rim do we get a real wheel strong enough to move our people forward.
So here’s the call to action: we must heal our wounds, demand accountability, and build an economy where our children don’t inherit instability. That means connecting public service with private enterprise, aligning grassroots action with boardroom responsibility, and making sure every sector of our community pulls its weight. Our children should not be left wearing the ragged clothes of our missed opportunities. If we want them clothed in strength, security, and dignity, as I celebrate the Birth Month of my Big Mama, Lucile B, Allen, September-1906 then we must finish the work Big Mama told us to start—fix ourselves, link our spokes, and build the wheel that will roll our people into a stronger future.
Terry Allen is an NABJ award-winning Journalist, DEI expert, PR professional, and founder of the charity – Vice President at FocusPR, Founder of City Men Cook, and Dallas Chapter President of NBPRS.org
